Gainsbourg to star in Von Trier’s ‘Nymphomaniac’

Charlotte Gainsbourg has signed onto another film by controversial director Lars Von Trier’s latest project, Nymphomaniac. Von Trier describes the film as an artistic drama concerning a woman’s sexual journey, from birth to the age of 50. Audiences can choose between the hardcore or softcore versions of the film, with the former containing graphic portrayals of penetrative acts. There are concerns whether the the actress will participate in the specific scenes, it is unknown to what extent she will perform on camera. She was rumored to have used a “fake organ” during one scene in the film Antichrist.

Gainsbourg is no stranger to Von Trier movies; the actress first starred in Antichrist (2009), as the mother of a deceased child. The film is infamous due to explicit sexual behavior involving genital stimulation and mutilation. Gainsbourg received the award for Best Actress® in Cannes 2009 for the role. In 2011, she co-starred along side Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia, a film depicting a wandering planet about to collide with the earth during an after-wedding celebration.

As for the director himself, Von Trier is as controversial as his films, having been banned from the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 for cajoling he was a Nazi sympathizer, and supposedly refusing to speak to the press as of October 2011.

I am excited to see Gainsbourg in another Von Trier film and I am curious to see if the film verges on a similar theme to that of director Steve McQueen‘s Shame. I truly believe Gainsbourg to be an exceptional actress and has found her niche with working with Von Trier. He may be an arguable director–yet this is what brings maximal interest in his work.